


How Am I Gonna Make It Better If I Can't Go Back?

by SlarStarsFanFics



Series: From Tumblr [4]
Category: The Umbrella Academy (TV)
Genre: Angst, Diego Hargreeves Needs A Hug, Diego yells at Reginald and its great, Gen, Good Brother Diego Hargreeves, Hurt/Comfort, Luther Hargreeves Needs A Hug, Reginald Hargreeves' A+ Parenting, What-If, Whump, no beta we die like ben
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-10
Updated: 2019-09-10
Packaged: 2020-10-13 19:42:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 946
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20588030
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SlarStarsFanFics/pseuds/SlarStarsFanFics
Summary: What if Luther's fateful mission went a little bit different?





	How Am I Gonna Make It Better If I Can't Go Back?

**Author's Note:**

> I actually liked this one tbh

Diego was doing fine. He was living in a boiler room and mopping floors for a living, but he was doing fine.

He was making eggs when he got a call.

“Hello?”

“Diego?”

“Mom, hi!”

‘That’s wierd’ he thought. After he left seven years ago, he hadn’t been in frequent contact with any of his family members. Luther was still cooped up in that house with Mom, Dad, and Pogo, Allison was off making rom-coms, Klaus was still in and out of rehab, and Vanya…. he didn’t know what Vanya was doing with her life.

“Honey, I need your help with something.”

She sounded worried, which was also odd. He knew that she felt emotion, but she never really showed any but happiness unless something was very wrong.

“Yeah sure. Whaddya need?”

“I need you to help Luther. Your father sent him on a mission this morning, and the building he’s in is unstable. It could come down any minute, please love-”

“Yeah Mom, just tell me the address.”

“Really?”

“Yeah Mom, I’ll go get him.”

—————

Diego drove to the location just in time to see it come down. Running through the depries, he felt his heart race with adrenaline.

'Not him too.’

He called his brother’s name over and over, hoping and praying for a response. He may not get along with Luther, but he had already lost two brothers, and he wasn’t losing another. Not on his watch.

The creak of beams being lifted got his attention. He ran in that direction, tripping over the rubble. “LUTHER!”

He saw his brother, and was horrified to see metal and cement crushing his chest.

Diego leaned down and put his leather-clad hand on Luther’s forehead. “He-hey, I need you to li-lift this with me okay? Can you do that.”

Luther’s dark eyes met his own and he attempted to speak, but the only sound that left his mouth was gurgling.

“Ple-please. It’s gonna be okay, but I can’t lift this on my own.”

Diego got a grip on the edges of the metal, and Luther tried to get his hands under it.

“Okay, one three. One, two, three!”

They both lifted with all the strength they had, and after a lot of struggling, they maneged to tossing to the side. Diego froze when he saw the damage. Luther was covered from head to toe with deep gashes and bloody cuts, but the worst of of it was on his chest. The metal had dug its way deep into his body, from his collarbone to the bottom of his ribs, and tore it partially open.

“Ok, I got-gotta get you home. Come on.”

He looped his arms under Luther’s and pulled him out of the building, avoiding as much of the debreis as possible.

Diego pulled him into the back of his car, and tried his best to stop the bleeding with a make-shift bandage.

'Just hang on…’  
—————————-

“MOM! POGO! I NEED YOUR HELP!”

They both ran to the front door to see Diego dragging his brother into the foyer. Luther was unconscious and blood-covered, and Diego was panicked and had glistening tears streaming down his cheeks, making red streaks in the ash covering his face.

Pogo went to get the stretchers and Grace made a quick checklist of her eldest’s many injuries. Diego was gripping Luther’s hand and watching their mother expectantly.

Pogo came back with the stretcher, and Gracenand Diego lifted him up onto it. Diego nearly screamed when he saw Reginald racing down the stairs and following them to the infirmary.

He watched as Grace tried her hardest to stop the bleeding, and felt waves of shock and horror when he heard his father bark at Pogo to get “the serum.” Pogo grabbed a syringe, and Diego started feeling faint.

He quickly stepped in front of the stretcher and pushed Reginald away.

“Number Two!”

“No, you are not fu- fuking stabbing my brother, w-with some magical syrum!”

“Number Two, this syrum will save his life!”

Diego felt the rage build in his chest.

“NO! GET THE FUC K OUT OF HERE!”

He shoved Reginald out and locked the door.

“Mom, can you help him?”

She nodded solemnly.

“Do whatever you need to do.”  
—————————————————-

When Luther woke up, it had been a week. Diego called the others, but most of his siblings were pretty unreachable. Currently though, He was on the phone with Vanya.

Bleary-eyed and drugged up on painkillers, Luther scanned the dark room and was shocked to see he wasn’t alone.

“Diego?” His gravelly voice mumbled.

Diego’s head swiveled in the direction of the cot. 

“Vanya, I gotta go, he’s up. Yeah, come whenever you want, I’m sure he’ll be happy to see you.”

He hung up and stepped towards the cot. “Hey dude, how are ya feeling?”

“Crappy.”

Diego did his iconic “fair enough” face and sat besides the pillow. 

“You need to get out of here dude. Dad was just about ready to use some wierd experimental 'syrum’ on you.”“

What?”

“Yeah, in asked Pogo about it later, and he said it was the same thing that turned him into a monkey man.”

Diego watched as Luther processed how much of an arse their dad was. He felt almost smug, until he saw the tears welling up in his brother’s eyes. 

“Hey, hey it’s okay. It’s about time you realised that dad’s a jerk.”

His words did nothing to comfort Luther, and the tears started spilling while his shoulders shook. Diego swung his legs onto the bed and gently pulled Luther’s head to his chest and wrapped his arms around his muscular shoulders.

"We’ll figure it out, okay? I’ve got you.“


End file.
